MYSORE: Not many can run like a gazelle, jump like a kangaroo and make large strides like a giraffe, all while balancing on stilts. This lad from Mysore is an exception.
Adept at powerbocking, the act of jumping and running with elastic-like spring-loaded stilts, usually of carbon fibre or graphite, Raghav Anil Kumar, a student of Sri Jayachamarajendra College of Engineering (SJCE), is the first from Karnataka to do so. He has designed and fabricated his variant of stilts. Each stiltt consists of a foot-plate with snowboard-type bindings, a fibre-glass leaf spring and a hoof. Explaining that this sport is yet to catch up in India, he says that one can jump up to six feet using these stilts.
Says Raghav, “Powerbocking is an extreme sport and provides a full body workout, helps reduce cholesterol and body weight and build stamina.”
“Performers used similar stilts during the closing ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008,” he says, with attention to detail.
On learning powerbocking, he adds that it generally takes a day or two to gain balance and at least a month to get the basics right. “At first, I built my own pair of stilts out of scrap. I studied its structure and mechanism from a Youtube video,” he elucidates.
In a tete-a-tete with Express, he says that he practiced walking, running and jumping with it, and realised that they required some modification. “Some materials, especially the springs, were unavailable in the Indian market.”
“I can now perform gymnastic elements on hard floors using these stilts, with greater ease and power than when barefoot. I could even jump over a car with practice,” was Raghav’s description of coming to terms with the art. He desires more people taking to this sport and collaborating with him in popularising it in the nation. His confidence, he says, stems from the fact that he never shied away from experimentation.
“Thanks to the technical expertise of my father, Anil Kumar, and his friend, Yogish, I was able to design the stilts easily,” he says.
He adds that his friend Boraiah practices along with him and helps him learn new tricks. Powerbocking may have a bright future in India as it adds dimension to many other sports, such as basketball, volleyball and hockey.
Videos of Raghav can be checked out at Youtube/raghav91.